


Lucky or Not?

by Fluffkbutt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuban Lance (Voltron), F/F, F/M, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hawaiian Hunk (Voltron), Italian Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Mob Boss Lance (Voltron), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, White Paladin Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:54:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffkbutt/pseuds/Fluffkbutt
Summary: I'm pretty bad at summarys so I'll just say couple things, hopefully youre interested.Lance is just really bad ass and hes seen a lot. he keeps a lot from his teammates for simple reasons and only Pidge and Hunk actually know who he is.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 111





	1. info

**Author's Note:**

> what the title says

this chapter will just be some info

I'll say this now, I read a lot of works that either just get abandoned or are short things that never get a continuation. But I go through a lot a stories and have been inspired by some details so if something looks familiar it's probably because you've seen it somewhere else but only a couple details aren't mine. 

The updates will probably be slow due to the way Archive works. Things might speed up later if I get the hang of it, but if that does happen it'll probably take a while. I'll try not to take more than a month on each chapter, but I do still have school to worry about.

It might take me a bit to figure out how I'm gonna kick this off so the first few chapters will probably take the longest. 

tiny side note: this is my first story


	2. 1. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise again for the wait. 
> 
> Also, we are just gonna pretend that everyone uses the terms second, hour, day, etc.

He's gone. Shiro's gone. One second we're fighting a group of galra, and the next second there's a blinding light and one of us is missing. The group we were fighting hadn't really been that large. Only 3 of the larger battle ships were present but one of them looked a little different from the other two, it wasn't too much bigger but the front of it looked different. It still had the ion cannon on the top of it but it also seemed to have a different type of large weapon on the front. We found out too late that the ship contained beings that studied alchemy. After taking out the other two large ships we had been distracted by the smaller ones, the opportunity to strike was taken by the enemy and soon enough both sides were retreating. We had to carry an unresponsive Black Lion back to the castle ship.

That happened a few weeks ago, and since then the state of things has gone a little down hill. Hunk is spending more and more time in the kitchen. Coran has been wandering around the castle looking for things to fix or clean. Allura is constantly in the bridge, looking over plans or looking over what our situation is and how to improve it: how to get more allies, which outposts are more beneficial to take out, etc. She doesn't seem to want to ask anyone for help, not even Keith who is now the Black Paladin. Pidge hardly leaves her room, more often than not, someone has to bring her food because she won't leave her setup. And lastly there's the Black Paladin himself. He seems to have taken the disappearance of Shiro the worst. He hardly sleeps, he's eating less everyday, and he practically never leaves the training deck. Then there's me. I'll be honest, I haven't really been sleeping or eating correctly either but because of some strange older brother instincts, I'm much more concerned about everyone else on the castle than I am about myself. I've been doing what I can to make sure nobody collapses of exhaustion, dehydration, or malnutrition. 

Anyway, that's what I'm doing right now, trying to make sure everyone stays alive. My first stop was Hunk, he was easy to find and I wasn't too concerned about him not getting enough food or sleep, he knew how to take care of himself. When I got to the kitchen I saw Hunk sitting on one of the bar stools at the island, he had his head in one of his hands and a timer in front of him. "Hey, bud. You waiting on something?" He startled slightly when I spoke but he did look like he was about to fall asleep so I wasn't really surprised. Now is around the time most of us would usually start heading to bed or to our own rooms anyway. "Yeah, I found this recipe that was pretty simple to make in one of the books I got from the space mall. It's supposed to have some calming properties too so I thought I'd give it a try. Hey do you want to try it, it might help you get to sleep easier," like me he had a strong need to look after others. "No, that's ok, Hunk. I think I'll be able to get some good enough rest without it, but thank you. I'll be sure to try and get the others over here to try it out though," I responded. The frown that had appeared on his face at my denial of his offer was soon replaced with a smile when I said I would likely be sending others over to enjoy his food. My next stop was Pidge, she was easy to find but a little more difficult to convince to rest. She was still trying to find her family and now she felt like she had to take responsibility and search for Shiro, too. When I knocked on her door, I got no response, but I wasn't really expecting one, anyway. I opened the door to find her staring intently at a few screens, but from the look of frustration on her face, the wasn't much to look at. Some of the screens had hundreds of lines of code while the others held photos, files, and security footage. "Hey, Pidgeon," I greeted her from the doorway. She didn't like people coming into her room without permission, though, she'd told me before that she didn't mind her family doing it, adding afterwards that she liked to consider me and Hunk part of her family. I still didn't enter without permission, out of respect. She looked up at me with surprise on her face, apparently she didn't hear the knock or the door opening, "Oh, hey, Lance," she responded once she was over her slight shock. "You feeling hungry? Hunk just found a new recipe he decided to try out." She looked like she wanted to deny the offer, wanting to keep working to find everyone, when her stomach growled loudly. She blushed slightly, and hit a few more buttons on her laptop before she shut it and started to leave the room. Before she left though she stopped in front of me to give me a hug. "Thanks," she whispered. Once she was gone I cleaned up her room a little just so it was easier to move around. Afterwards I went off to find Coran. He was pretty easy to talk to about taking care of himself, but he could be a little hard to find sometimes. Seems like now was one of those times. After checking the madbay, the hangers, and briefly peaking into the bridge, I found him in one of the libraries. He was walking along a shelf looking for a book to read and he soon noticed me when nothing there seemed to interest him enough and he turned to look at another shelf. "Oh, Lance, my boy! I didn't hear you come in," he greeted, surprise clear in his voice, "Were you hoping to do some reading?" I gave him a sad smile, I hadn't gotten a chance to go through the library with him even though I'd become almost fluent in Altean, "No, sorry, Coran. I was actually looking for you, I was wondering if you were hungry. Hunk was making some food in the kitchen earlier, it should be done by now." My first sentence put a small frown on his face, showing he was just as sad as I was about this, but when I finished speaking he was back to his cheerful self. "A meal sounds wonderful! Thank out for letting me know. I'll be sure to invite Allura to the meal as well." He was out the door soon after he was done speaking. I was pretty relieved that he would be going to handle Allura, it's usually easier to get her to take a break after getting Coran to do it. With Allura handled I could move on to Keith. He was obviously the most distraught over Shiro's disappearance, he hadn't really bonded with anyone since we'd gotten out here, always staying close to Shiro. It's not surprising that now he's basically completely shut everyone out. When I got to the training room I could hear the clashing of metal against metal through the walls and doors. The doors opened almost silently when I stopped in front of them. Keith didn't hear it over the noise he was making. I decided to observe his training until he finished this level. He was very stubborn and interrupting him would not help. It was easy to tell he was exhausted, he was slower to dodge, strike, and in getting back up after being hit. After a few minutes the gladiators stopped appearing, Keith was panting heavily and looked like he was about to fall over, he was covered in sweat too. He stood there for a couple minutes and I slowly approached him. I made sure that I made a little noise when I walked so he would know I was here, but it didn't seem to work. He didn't lift his head or stand up straighter, it was like he couldn't hear me. I was glad I had started moving because once I was a couple feet away he started falling backwards. I was close enough to catch him and when I did I saw that he hadn't passed out but he wasn't really conscious either. I tried saying his name but I didn't get a response. I decided to sit there with part of his upper body in my lap until he either fell asleep or woke up completely. while he was out I sheathed his knife that he'd dropped when he fell. A quick glance at his exposed skin would reveal multiple bruises and a few cuts where he was hit hard enough to break the skin. It only took about a minute for Keith to start blinking rapidly and get up to look around. When his eyes landed on me he seemed to start freaking out. He tried to stand up but he just fell again, he was luckily awake enough to catch himself because he did manage to get a couple steps away and I was still sitting down. After falling backwards again he'd caught himself on his hands and then hugged his legs to his chest, his face showing he was in pain. He averted his eyes but kept his body facing me. After seeing that he wasn't going to move or start talking, I spoke first, "Hey, man. You doin' ok?" His eyes met mine for a second before he quickly looked away, but from the quick glance I got I could see they were filled with sadness, but there was also fear and a little anger. I could still see his eyes a little, even though they weren't facing me, and I was slightly surprised to see them filled with tears. I didn't say anything else, not wanting him to run away, so we sat there in silence, until he started sniffling. When I heard and he didn't immediately start running to the exit, I moved to sit next to him with about a foot of distance between us. He had tilted his head to his right earlier to avoid eye contact so I sat on his left. I continued to not speak and decided to look in front of me instead of staring at him. He was obviously feeling extremely vulnerable and I was doing what I could to not make him uncomfortable, but I didn't want to leave him alone like this. He slowly started getting louder as the sniffles were joined by whimpers and soon enough the whimpers were turning into sobs. His body started shaking more than it was from the exhaustion. After a few seconds of him sobbing I moved closer so our hips were touching and almost immediately he leaned into me. I put my right arm around his body and held his head to my chest with my left hand. He stopped hugging his legs to wrap his arms around me and started crying more heavily than before. I let him cry, sitting silently. He didn't need words or reassurances right now, he just needed to cry. After around 45 minutes he started to quiet down, but his breathing was still very erratic and fast. I let him calm down some more before seeing that his breathing wasn't getting much better. I moved him so he was sitting up straighter and moved so we were facing each other, he panicked a little when I moved away from his side and grabbed onto my left arm tightly. "Easy, relax. I'm not going anywhere," I tried to reassure him. He nodded shakily and loosened his grip slightly but he didn't let go. I gave him a couple more minutes but his breathing wasn't slowing down in the slightest. Luckily it wasn't speeding up and he wasn't exactly hyperventilating but he wasn't going to be able to completely calm down while he was breathing like that. "Hey I need you to take some deep breathes for me. Do you know any breathing exercises?" I asked him gently. I knew normally he'd get defensive about that but right now he didn't seem to care. He nodded again, "Sh-Shiro said b-breath in sl-lowly, h-hold it for th-three seconds, then b-breath out s-slowly," he said shakily and quietly. I nodded at him with a small smile, "Ok, I want you to do that now, alright?" He nodded again, a little less shaky than last time, and started to take deep breaths. He seemed to be doing it fine on his own without me needing to count for him or anything so I started looking around. I spotted a water bottle against one of the walls, along with his jacket. I looked back at him to see that his breathing had calmed down quite a bit but it wasn't exactly even, yet. He was still holding my left arm with his right hand, while his left hand clutched the front of his shirt. I grabbed his right wrist loosely with my right hand and tried to pull his hand off gently. His breath hitched and he looked up to make eye contact with me, "It's ok, I was just gonna go grab your stuff," I let go of his wrist and pointed to where his things were. He hesitantly and slowly let go of my arm, so I went to get the water and his jacket. When I got back to him I handed him the water then sat back down in front of him. He opened the water bottle and started drinking, the bottle was about 3/4 full and pretty big, so when I saw him tilt the bottle almost vertically I reached over to stop him, "Hey, slow down, chugging that much water, isn't going to do any good for you." He looked a little irritated but complied and drank the water more slowly. By now his breathing had almost completely leveled out and his eyes were dry but pretty red. After he put the water bottle down I handed him his jacket. He put it on then hugged his legs to his chest again, he was still sniffling a little. I looked at the clock that was above the doors to see that I'd been here for a little over an hour, the others were probably done eating by now and if the food worked and calmed everyone then they were hopefully going to bed. I looked back at Keith to find that he was looking right at me. When we made eye contact he looked away with a slight blush. "Hey, Keith, you feelin' hungry? Hunk was making some food earlier and it honestly smelled amazing, there should still be some left. What do you say we head over there and get you something to eat," he looked like he wanted to deny the offer but just like with Pidge, his stomach decided to put in its own two cents with a loud growl. He blushed a little more before simply nodding and moving to get up. I stood up a little more quickly incase he was still too tired and needed some help. He was and he did. I'll give him some credit he managed to stand up on his own but his legs were extremely shaky and he looked like he was going to pass out. I got closer to him in case he really was going to pass out, but he looked like he was doing ok, that is, until he leaned forward and caught himself by wrapping his arms around my neck. After several seconds he made no move to back away or start walking, "Are you gonna walk or am I gonna have to carry you?" His only response was to tighten his grip around my neck slightly. Our height difference was big enough that my chin was only about an inch above the top of his head, so it wasn't that hard to hear when he also gave a small, "hmph." I smiled slightly at the childish behavior before moving my hands to the back of his thighs and picking him up. He let out a yell of surprise, tightening his grip quickly. "Put me down!" He protested half-heartedly, I just chuckled at his behavior. "Well you didn't let go of me, besides you can barely stand, you won't make it to the kitchen on your own." He huffed before settling and putting his head on my shoulder, "Whatever." 

The walk to the kitchen was silent, neither of us having anything to say. When we got there it was empty like I'd hoped, having other people around would no doubt make Keith bring up his walls again. I set him down on one of the stools at the island then moved to serve the food Hunk made, it looked like some kind of stew or soup. After serving Keith a descent amount, because I was pretty sure he hadn't eaten today, I served my self what was left, which was about half of what I gave him. When I sat on the stool next to Keith's and set my bowl down he noticed the difference in proportion almost immediately. "That's not enough food, you need more than that," he looked at me with wide eyes. I smirked, "You're one to talk. Tell me did you eat anything today before this?" "But-" I interrupted him, "Look there's none left and I'm not taking your food, plus I actually ate today so I'll be fine. Just eat." It took him a couple seconds to keep eating, and you could tell he was reluctant but he was also hungry. Once we'd both finished eating Keith could barely keep his eyes open. "Hey, c'mon, let's get you to bed," I said after I put the bowls in the sink and moved to stand near him. He spun the stool so he was facing me before reaching his arms out like a toddler that wanted to be picked up. I chuckled again before complying and moving closer so he could wrap his arms around my neck and I could pick him up again. I knew that under any other circumstances he wouldn't allow himself to be taken care of like this but right now he was too mentally and physically exhausted to care. He fell asleep on the way to his room so I quietly set him down and covered him with a blanket before leaving. The food did seem to have some calming effects but either I didn't eat enough of it or it wasn't strong enough to make me tired enough to sleep. I checked on everybody else and found that they had all in fact gone to sleep. Suddenly a voice spoke in my head, 'Green and Yellow were wondering if you would be joining us tonight.' I smiled teasingly, 'So you're just gonna pretend that you weren't wondering, too?' 'I don't know what you're talking about,' Blue responded. 'Yeah, I think I'll be heading over. I'm not feeling all that tired.' Soon I was making my way to the center hangers where I found all of the lions sitting in a very large circle. I could feel all of the lions excitement as I walked to the center of the circle and sat down cross-legged. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the bonds I had built with all of the lions and after only a couple minutes I opened my eyes to find myself in the astral plane. I stood up and seconds later I saw five lions headed my way from seemingly nowhere. The Black Lion was calmly walking, the Red Lion was running slowly, and the other three were basically sprinting at me. The result of their speed was that when they got to me they knocked me over and I was now laying flat on my back as they cuddled and licked me. When Red got to me Green, Yellow, and Blue had calmed down enough that I could sit up, though I almost fell again when Red pushed her forhead against mine. The four of them continued to rub against me and try to groom me, though all they really did was make my hair look like a total mess. All of the lions were noticably bigger than the lions on Earth, but Black was more the size of a bear than a lion, luckily he was aware of this, so while the others greeted me he kept a bit of distance but you could tell he also wanted to come over and say hi. A few minutes later and the four smaller lions had backed off slightly and we're now playing or just laying down with each other. When Black saw this he moved in a little faster than he had been walking earlier and knocked me over once more to lay his head and one of his paws on me. As he rubbed his head on my chest like the others had, I chuckled, his childish, clingy behavior reminding me of the way Keith was acting earlier. Everyone was settled down and relaxing for a while before Red inevitably got restless and started trying to convince the others to play with her, but nobody seemed to be in the mood. When she came over to see if Black wanted to play, Black just moved her head off of my chest and away out of irritation, she kept her paw on my stomach though. Once Red realized that none of the lions would play with her, she got a little angry. She looked at me, 'They're being jerks, you play with me.' She basically demanded it and I knew that her annoyance at the others had nothing to do with her attitude. She wasn't necessarily rude, but she definitely wasn't a saint. Seeing as she wasn't going to give up and I was getting a little restless myself I decided to comply. I got up slowly, making a show of stretching my limbs and back, as expected, Red waited impatiently. She seemed to have the same ideals as the knights used to have on Earth, about honor. She didn't attack from behind, unless necessary, and she waited until the opponent was ready so that it was fair. The other lions and I liked to take advantage of this when we played. I did that this time by changing from my slow movements to immediately lunging at her. I managed to touch her with one hand before she jumped away, 'Hey!' I could feel the amusement of the others, through the bond, as they watched. Red glared at them before turning to me and lunging. They seemed to learn quickly that I was at a disadvantage in the strange game that they played with each other, so when they played with me, the game turned into a slightly violent game of tag. I say slightly violent because, instead of the light touches we are taught to use when we are young, this game usually ends with us pushing each other roughly or pouncing on each other with our entire bodies. Luckily because it's in the astral plain I don't get bruises or anything and the lions don't actually hurt each other if they get too rough. We do, however, get tired, so after running after each other for what seemed like over an hour we joined the others and layed down again. We layed there, in mostly silence, for what could have been hours, but time is weird in the astral plane so I don't actually know. The lions inevitably started playing around with each other lazily by nipping and kicking each other softly. This, of course, soon escalated to them running around and tackling one another. Black and I were the only ones that didn't join the strange game, and instead just watched, sitting next to each other.

A while later, I felt the amusement that was coming from Black fade. I turned to her, "Whats wrong?" She looked at me for a couple seconds before turning to watch the others play again. 'You are a leader, a good one, but you will not be my Paladin. You have told me that it does not feel right to you. If what you are saying is true and it is becoming harder for you to pilot the lions but easier for you to bond with them then I fear your place is not within this castle.' I smiled sadly, "Yeah, I was begining to get that feeling, too." 'The others and I have discussed this and they agree that you are needed somewhere else, though they aren't happy to know this.' I watched the others play for a couple minutes before I spoke again, "I can't leave them, yet. I need to make sure they are taken care of before I leave." We sat in silence for a few more minutes, the lions playing begining to slow down and move back to where they were laying. 'The lights are brightening.' This was how Black usually told me that the day cycle was starting and people would be waking up soon. Only Hunk, Pidge, and Coran know that I have this strong of a bond with all of the lions and I'd prefer to keep it that way. I said goodbye to all the lion, all of them rubbing against me, similar to how they greeted me. I concentrated on the image of the hanger, then opened my eyes to find myself there, still sitting cross-legged in the middle of a circle of lions. I stretched my stiff muscles before heading to my room to shower. After my shower I just relaxed and started drawing. It seemed that going to the astral plane helped rest my body so although it hurt a little from the way I had been sitting, I was pretty well rested. A couple hours later the others were awake and it was time to start the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any feedback please let me know. It is almost always helpful.


	3. 2. Repairs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DID IT! I'M ON TIME! Are you proud?😁

I was drawing a tree that I had seen on one of the planets we saved, when I heard a knock on my door. 

"Hey, buddy. Breakfast is gonna be served soon," I heard Hunk say. I heard his footsteps fade soon afterwards as he didn't wait for a response. Unlike the others, I had quickly found out how to lock my door and kept it locked almost always. This is why until this moment I hadn't bothered with covering up the visible scars and tattoos that I knew the others would question. However now that I would be leaving my room I went into the bathroom and grabbed the Altean equivalent of concealer to cover everything up. I was honestly starting to worry that I was going to run out of it because my jacket has started to fit a little tight and I know it won't be long before it doesn't fit and I won't be able to use it to cover my arms. 

Once I had covered myself enough I put away most of my drawings and supplies, then started heading to the dining room. When I arrived I was happy to see that everyone was present and looking relatively well rested. They also seemed happier and were enjoying each other's company. Their conversations didn't stop when I entered the room so I just quietly made my way to a seat. Allura was at the head of the table with Coran to her right. Pidge had taken the seat to her left with Hunk right next to her. Keith was sitting next to Coran and although he wasn't talking, he had a small smile on his face as he watched Pidge and Hunk argue over whether a hotdog is a sandwich or not. I sat down next to Keith and that seemed to draw his attention away from the chaotic pair.

"Hey," He said hesitantly. 

"Hey," I responded with a smile. 

"Listen, about yesterday-" he started saying. 

"It's fine," I interrupted, already knowing what he was going to say, "I really don't mind. If you need anything let me know. You can't let yourself suffer in silence." 

He gave a small smile, "Yeah, ok." Our attention was then drawn to the head of the table. 

"Well, everyone seems much more rested, thanks to a great meal from Hunk and a good night's sleep," Allura spoke as she stood up. "Once everyone has finished their breakfast we should start preparing to have a group training session. We haven't had one in quite a bit." The fact that the last time we had one was before Shiro went missing, went unsaid. The rest of the meal went by peacefully, most of the conversations that happened coming from Hunk and Pidge as they discussed their projects. 

"Hey, Lance, weren't you working on something? I don't think you ever told us what it was," Hunk spoke as we all started getting up from the table. Allura and Coran had left soon after Allura was done talking, probably to get the training room ready. 

"You're telling me this guy is working on something alone," Keith teased. 

"I know, right? I'm surprised he hasn't caused an explosion or something," Pidge joined. 

"Ha-ha, very funny. It's a surprise. It should be done in a few days, if all goes well. And if I do cause an explosion, then you can call me the biggest idiot in the universe and I'd have to agree," I said as we started to make our way to our rooms. 

"I'll start working on a medal for you," Pidge replied with a small smirk. I simply rolled my eyes. 

We went into our rooms to put on our armour and grab our bayards. I took a few extra minutes after getting ready to clean up the drawing materials that I left out before going to eat breakfast. When I got to the training room I soon realised I was the last one there but the others were still warming up and stretching. Allura still wasn't happy that I had taken so long to get there and scolded me slightly. After a few more minutes of everybody warming up the princess told us that she would be starting the simulation soon. 

"So, what are we doing, exactly?" Pidge asked when Allura gave no explanation. 

"You will be fighting several gladiators. They will outnumber you, however, they have been put on a low setting, so you should be able to handle them if you work well together. Also remember to communicate, the terrain will change so you may not be able to see everyone at all times," Allura spoke. 

This was actually something that most of them needed to work on, especially Pidge and Keith. Both of them seemed to prefer to not ask for help probably thinking that they didn't need any. Hunk usually doesn't like to bother people so will only call for help when really necessary or when he knows that someone is actually available to help him. I don't usually need to ask for help even though I'm usually the farthest from the group, but this also means I'm usually the farthest from the center of the fight. If any one does find where I'm shooting from and they manage to get to me, it would only be 1 to 3 people or centres that I can take out on my own. The ground soon started to shift from the smooth ground to some sort of plains covered in large rocks. Everyone got into defensive positions but didn't stray too far from each other, only giving enough space for everyone to move and fight freely. 

It was only a few moments later when I hear an almost silent hiss from the wall behind me. It was almost exactly like the hiss that all of the doors in the castle made but somehow even more silent. I immediately turned around to see a hole in the wall and a gladiator crawling out of it. I backed up to put some distance between us because I couldn't see what weapon it was holding yet. The others stepped closer to it, almost circling it but not quite - they didn't get that close. As it finished stepping into the light of the training deck I saw that it had a spear instead of a staff. The staffs were the most common weapon that they wielded followed by spears. Other weapons, like swords and guns, were less common. 

I found this pretty impractical because most of our enemies just carried swords and guns. Keith was unsurprisingly the first one to make a move, even before the gladiator. He ran towards it's left, probably because it carried the spear in its right hand, but that wouldn't help him much if it started focusing on him. 

"Distract it," I said as I fired a couple shots at its chest. I was currently using the rifle, the first weapon I manifested with the blue bayard. Hunk activated his bayard and also started firing, being careful not to hit Keith who was still trying to get close to the gladiator. The shots from me and Hunk were distracting enough that the robot wasn't trying to hit Keith, but was moving around a lot in an attempt to dodge and block our firing. "Pidge," I called to her. She hadn't started firing because she didn't have that kind of weapon. Her grappling hook-like device wouldn't be very effective in that regard. 

She turned to me with a questioning look. "The legs," I said simply without looking away from the fight. Hunk and I were only firing a couple shots at a time as to be sure we wouldn't hit Keith. Pidge's looked confused for only a second before she looked back over to the commotion and understood. She activated her bayard as well and started moving closer cautiously. Once she thought she could get a good enough shot, she fired. The cord from her bayard wrapped around the lower parts of it's legs before tightening. 

Hunk and I stopped shooting for a second as it fell to the ground. Keith took this opportunity to move closer without it focusing on him and without the worry of his teammates shooting him. He quickly stabbed it in the head while it was still disoriented. It had already seemed to start understanding it's situation so it was better to take care of it quickly. The others let out small sounds of victory, but I turned to my left at the sound of another hiss. This wall was farther than the wall, which we had approached while Allura explained what was happening, that the first gladiator came from. There was also a large rock that blocked me from actually seeing the gladiator from my position. 

The sound would have gone unnoticed if I hadn't been listening for it. The others definitely hadn't heard it as they weren't in defensive stances, it seems they forgot that we would be having more than one foe. Luckily they heard the footsteps of the robot as it aproached us. As soon as it was coming into view I heard another set of metalic footsteps, these were more distant but it could be here in a few seconds if it decided to start running, which it might if it heard our fight with the one that's only about a few yards away. The others had gotten ready when they heard the second gladiator but none of them seem to realize that there is a third one on its way. Before I could warn them I heard a small yell of surprise. I turned away from the direction that I heard the third gladiator to see that the second one actually held a gun. 

It had fired a shot at Pidge who just managed to get her shield up in time. The rest of us quickly put our shields up. The gladiator continued to advance but the others seemed to have no clue what to do. Apparently they had never seen a gladiator with a gun and didn't know how to deal with it. The fact that Keith was also surprised by the gun showed just how uncommon they are, but with the amount of time he spends in here, he's probably seen a couple of them with swords. When the others seemed to just continue backing away I decided to speak up. "There's another to our left," they all turned in that direction, taking their eyes off the one with the gun. 

This made it think they had lost focus and it tried to shoot again but they all held their shields firmly. It only took a few seconds but I realized that it didn't shoot when I thought it would be pointless, this made beating it a lot simpler. "Hunk," I called, "get closer to me." He didn't question it and started moving towards me from my right. He seemed to realize the same thing as me because he didn't move to quickly and he kept facing the gladiator. Once Hunk was standing in front of me he crouched down a little and I deactivated my shield. I changed my bayard from the rifle to the sniper rifle and pointed it over Hunk's shoulder. 

Normally this would be a terrible idea but these guns didn't have the same recoil or the same noise as the ones on Earth so I wasn't that worried about making Hunk go deaf. I called to the others when I saw that I couldn't get a clear enough shot at the one vulnerability that all gladiators had, which was the neck. It had its head tilted down to look down the barrel of the gun, which was probably unnecessary for it anyway. "You two, turn its head." They looked confused by this but started circling it anyway. They went in opposite directions, Pidge to its right and Keith to its left. The gladiator decided to track Keith and kept moving to face him. 

When Pidge saw it turned its back to her she moved to use her bayard like she had with the fist one. "Don't," I said before she could go through with it. Tripping it like she had the first one would only draw it's attention to her. This one had much more time to realize it's surroundings and coordinate itself. It would probably take it about a second to realize that she was the one that tripped it then it would turn towards her and shoot. Keith was keeping his distance, he wouldn't be able to 'kill' it in time. She looked at me, clearly confused. 

"Don't," I repeated. A small scowl came over her face but she didn't move to aim her bayard again. By now the steps of the third gladiator were much closer but we still couldn't see it. Keith was moving pretty slow to ensure he didn't give it an opening, but this meant that the robot was moving pretty slow too. The back of the neck on the gladiator was less vulnerable than the front, which is why I told them to move its head, but if I got a good enough shot it should go down with just that. When the gladiator nearly had its back fully to us I took the shot. It was pushed forward with the force of the shot but it made no move to get its footing. 

You could see exposed and destroyed wires from where I hit it as it fell limply to the ground. When it hit the ground it made a loud clattering noise, this seemed to urge the third one to move more quickly. We heard the footsteps speed up and only a couple seconds later the gladiator was jumping over a large rock and landing only a couple yards away from me and Hunk. This one was holding a simple staff but this meant it had quite a range. It almost immediately swung at us but we luckily ducked out of the way in time. It kept it's focus on me so I quickly had to move again when it tried to bring the staff down on me. I deactivated my bayard to move around easier and saw that the others were trying to figure out how to deal with it. 

I continued dodging for another few seconds and the others started moving towards the gladiator so I assumed they had come up with something. Suddenly another whole opened in the wall, it was only a few feet away from where the first gladiator came from. This one carried a sword and was moving noticably quicker than the other gladiators. The others stopped moving, distracted by the newcomer. It was only a few seconds later that it started swinging at them. 

I tried to move towards them but the third gladiator was still too focused on me and it was between me and the group. I activated my shield the next time it raised the staff and blocked it when it came down. I lifted my shield with the staff still pressed against it. This gave me room to go under its arm and around it. I started climbing its back once I got behind it. I deactivated my shield to move easier again and moved so I had my legs around it's neck. Apparently it had been programmed to act alive, so, as if it had some sort of instincts, it dropped the staff to grip my legs. 

I activated my bayard again but instead of turning into the rifle or sniper rifle it turned into a pistol. I quickly pointed it at the side of the robots head and shot. I deactivated my bayard again as the gladiator fell forward and I landed in front of it. I turned to my left to see that the others were still occupied with the fourth gladiator. I went to move towards them but realised that they had it under control when Pidge wrapped the wire of her bayard around its upper body, trapping it's arms against it's body. Keith moved quickly and with one swing he decapitated it. Hunk had been trying to keep it's attention on him, blocking hits with his shield and dodging when he could. 

I let out a small sigh as the others gave each other proud smiles. The calm was short lived as I heard more metalic footsteps. There were three sets, all coming from different directions. I knew the others heard them too when they started looking around and tensing up. Then the ground started shifting again and we were no longer in a rocky plains but in a thick jungle. I soon lost sight of the others, there were too many trees and vines. I could hear the others calling my name through the comms but not each other's, so I knew they at least hadn't been separated from each other. 

The footsteps had stopped briefly, while the terrain was changing, but they had started up again soon. I could only hear one set, so I guess the 'trees' were blocking a lot of noise. "I'm fine," I told the others, "I'll start heading towards you guys." I went to move in the direction of the others but suddenly a spear was thrown into the tree in front of me. I turned around quickly to see a gladiator a few yards away. It took a few more steps and I realized that it was moving silently and that the footsteps I heard were from a different gladiator. I heard a few noises over the comms that told me the others were now fighting a gladiator. 

The one in front of me started sprinting in my direction and it only took a second for it to be on me. It raised it's left arm to punch and as it came down I ran forward between its legs. When I turned around again I saw it reaching for the spear still stuck in the tree. I quickly jumped on its back and activated my bayard again. This time i shot the back of it's neck with the pistol. I deactivated it again immediately and took some deep breathes. The hand that held my bayard began to shake slightly. 

After a few seconds I tuned back into my surroundings to find that I could hear footsteps nearby. I activated my shield and turned towards the noise. I was just in time to see a gladiator jump out of the foliage and bring it's staff down onto me. I cursed under my breath as the force of it pushed me down to kneel. Over the comms I heard sounds of relief and happiness, then concern. 

"Lance?" Hunk called, "Lance!" 

"I'm here, I'm okay," I said, slightly out of breathe. The gladiator hadn't let up, it kept pressing down on my shield. I heard Hunk let out a small sigh of relief. I let out a small chuckle, "C'mon, Hunk, don't you have faith in me?" 

"Of course, I have faith in you. I just worry sometimes, you know that," he chuckled as well. 

"Yeah, I know, bud." The gladiator finally lifted the staff only to swing it from it's right to its left very low to the ground. I quickly jumped up into a back handspring to put more distance between us. "And you know I always appreciate your concern and help," I said as I landed and lifted my shield again. 

"We're on our way, dork," Pidge chimed in. I chuckled again. The gladiator swung again so I rolled out of the way. I could hear the footsteps of the others as they got closer, following the strange tracking system on the suits. They hadn't been far from me when we got separated so I knew it wouldn't take them long to get to me. The gladiator lifted the staff from the ground and immediately swung again. It hit my shield but the force made me take a couple steps back. I continued to dodge and block a few more swings before the others arrived. When they did get there, Hunk immediately fired a couple shots at it so I could have some breathing room. I sent him a quick, grateful smile and he gave me a thumbs up and a smile. We turned back to watch as Keith kept it's attention on him as Pidge swung up onto a branch. Hunk and I had our bayards ready in case it got to close to Keith or suddenly started focusing on Pidge. Once Pidge was steady on the branch and had a good angle, she shot her grappling hook-like weapon and got the hook stuck around it's neck. Then she simply pushed a button and the gladiator started twitching before collapsing to the ground. She retracted the device and climbed down the tree. The ground started shifting again, but this time it turned back to its original plain white. 

"Congratulations, paladins. You've completed your training for today," we heard Allura say over the comms. We all let out sighs of relief as we sat down and relaxed. We did it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think.


	4. 3. Updates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm real shit when it comes to being on time but I hope you enjoy anyway and stick around for more. I highly doubt I'm gonna quit or forget about this story but I ask that you stay patient. Sorry.

After Allura announced that we had completed the training session we all sat down to relax and catch our breathes. We only really sat down for about a minute before we started stretching again so we wouldn't cramp up or anything. We all headed to one of the nearby lounge areas to discuss the session with Allura and Coran and to also calm down completely. Keith was the first one to get there after putting his armour and bayard away. Pidge, Hunk, and I decided to walk there together. Pidge entered the room first and immediately made a run for the couch. She ended up jumping onto Keith's lap, landing with her chest and stomach over his legs and her arms stretched above her head. Keith looked startled and shocked when she didn't move off of him. 

Hunk and I chuckled at the sight before also sitting down. I sat down on Keith's right and lifted Pidge's legs to rest on my lap, and Hunk sat on my right. Keith had sat down pretty close to the left end of the couch but there was still some room there luckily or Pidge might have hit her head. Keith looked slightly uncomfortable so I gave him a small smile. 

"You can tell her to move, you know," I said. Pidge lifted her head slightly and looked at him expectantly. 

"No, it's fine," he said a little hesitantly, "I'm just not used to this kind of thing, I guess." Pidge put her head back down and huffed. This didn't seem to reassure him much, but before I could say anything Allura and Coran walked in. 

"How are you all feeling?" Allura asked as she sat down. Coran stood a little off to the side like usual but he didn't seem to feel excluded at all. In response to Allura's question Pidge let out a whiney groan. We all chuckled a little and Keith let out a small smile. "Well, you all did very good during your training. You worked well together and dealt with the gladiators fairly quickly." We all let out small sighs of relief that this wouldn't be a lecture like it had the first few times we used the training deck as a team. We were actually improving. 

"Lance," she suddenly called, "you handled yourself quite calmly even when you had been separated from the others and delt with those gladiators effectively." 

"Thanks, princess," I said as I gave her a small smile, "but I think I just got lucky." 

"I wouldn't say so," Coran chimed in, "You've been improving quite steadily for a couple of months now. I don't think luck had anything to do with your performance." I blushed slightly at the praise and the amount of confidence he seemed to have in me. 

"I have to agree with him," Allura said with a small smile, "but I was wondering about something. Your bayard, it transformed into something I had never seen before, when did you achieve this advancement?" I was a little surprised that she had even noticed it, I'm sure I couldn't have actually had it out for more than a few seconds total. 

"Your bayard changed forms again?" Hunk asked. The four of them all looked at me, confused and curious. 

"Uh, yeah it did, but," I started hesitantly, "I'd rather not talk about it right now so can we move on, please?" As I spoke I began to fidget slightly. Hunk, of course, grew concerned. 

"Hey, you ok?" Hunk asked as he put a hand on my knee, it helped ground me sometimes, I started to still. 

"Is something wrong?" Allura became a little concerned as well. I gave her a small smile. 

"No, its fine," I tried to assure her, " just lets move on, please?" 

"Alright," she gave me a small, hesitant, smile of her own. We went over a few other things before her and Coran left the room to do what they needed to do. We relaxed on the couch quietly for another minute or so before I stood up. Pidge still hadn't really moved so when I stood up the lower half of her body fell to the ground and inevitably the rest of her did too. Keith looked slightly shocked and like he was about to ask if she was ok but Pidge moved before he could. 

"You asshole!" She yelled as she jumped into me. I just chuckled as I blocked her light punches. She stopped after a few moments and jumped off me to stand on her own. Suddenly we heard Allura's voice over the intercoms. 

"Paladins, we will be landing on a planet shortly to gather supplies. The planet in not inhabited by a people but it has many creatures and plants. We'll be there in a few minutes." We all looked at each other with excitement. Being stuck on the castle ship for months at a time was no fun. We stayed in the lounge area while we waited for the ship to land and just messed around. Allura walked back into the lounge area a couple minutes after the ship landed. 

"So, the planet is mostly forest but we've managed to find a clearing which is where we landed the ship. There are quite a few harmless animals and plants however there are also hostile animals and harmful plants. That being said, if you plan to leave the clearing, I think it would be best to wear your armour and take your Bayard. Otherwise, the air is breathable and the gravity is safe. I think this is a good place for a break," she finished speaking with a small smile. 

We all smiled back at her and started heading to the main entrance. When we got outside we had to pause for a second and look around. This planet looked very similar to earth with a blue sky and green grass. The trees were all sorts of colors and bigger than redwoods. A small smile made its way into my face as I looked around and walked forward. I turned to the others to see that they were just as captivated by the scenery. Suddenly Pidge's smile grew bigger in excitement. 

"Flowers!" She pointed to a patch of colorful flowers about 20 feet away. "You said you could make flower crowns, right, Lance?" She looked at me expectantly. 

"Yeah, I know how," I said as I started walking towards the patch, "but don't get your hopes up. These flowers might be to stiff or something, they might not work." Her smile dimmed a small fraction but not much. We got to the flower patch and I crouched down to check if the flowers had any kinds of thorns first. After seeing nothing I picked a couple to test their durability and flexibility. They felt really similar to flowers on earth but they had a rougher texture on the stem. 

"Will these work?" Pidge asked with anticipation. I chuckled lightly at her before answering. 

"Yeah, these are fine." She then sat down near the flower patch, excited smile back on her face. I sat down with her and started grabbing a few more flowers and she did the same. Hunk and Keith sat down too, though, Keith looked a little lost. I started braiding and weaving the flower stems together, making sure to hold it at an angle that Pidge could see what I was doing. She seemed to be following along well enough just watching so I didn't bother trying to explain it out loud. 

Once Pidge started getting the hang of it, she sped up a little, but I just kept going at the same slow pace, both of us picking more flowers as we went. Pidge ended up finishing a few seconds before me because of how slow I was going, and while I kept my head tilted slightly downwards she placed the flower crown on my head. I chuckled softly without looking up as I finished the crown I was making. I looked at it for a second before placing it on Pidge's head. She hardly payed attention to it as she started grabbing more flowers and started making another crown, probably for Hunk or Keith. I decided to make another as well, so that everybody had one. Pidge and I weren't really paying attention to the colors we were getting so there were several colors in each crown with no real theme in any of them. 

While we made them there wasn't much conversation, we just sat there relaxing. When we finished Pidge placed the crown she made on Hunk's head and I placed the one I made in Keith's head. We stayed in the clearing for another hour or so, messing with each other and sometimes chasing each other around. 

It was very similar to when I was with the lions in the astral plane. Everyone's personality about the same as their lion partners'. The biggest difference would be that Keith didn't try to initiate any play like Red would. After a while we agreed it was about time to go back inside and have lunch. We all went into the kitchen and Hunk made a quick meal that he had found about a month ago. It didn't require a lot of time or ingredients so he made it whenever he was in a rush for any reason. 

Allura and Coran came into the kitchen a couple minutes after we started eating. Hunk served them their own meals and we all ate together with almost no conversation. When we were done eating Allura stood up near the island that we were eating at to get our attention again. 

"So, Coran and I have decided that for today we will just be relaxing and taking a proper break. We will start the gathering of supplies tomorrow. So, you have the rest of the day to do as you please. Coran and I will be in the bridge, scanning the nearby area for what may be useful or harmful." We were all relieved to hear that she wasn't going to say that gathering the supplies was our break. We stayed in the kitchen after Allura and Coran headed back to the bridge. 

"What do you guys wanna do now?" Hunk asked. 

"Hey," Pidge started excitedly, "let's fly the lions around." Keith and Hunk's expressions soon matches hers as they got excited, too. Pidge turned to me after a second, "What do you say, Lance?" 

I gave her a small smile, "Sorry, Pidge, but Im gonna keep working on my project. You guys have fun." As I finished talking I got up and started to walk out of the room. I could hear Pidge whine behind me but I just chuckled and kept walking. When I got back to my room I made sure it was locked behind me as I entered. Afterwards I went over to my bed and started reaching under it. I pull out a toolbox first, some of the tools were made by me because Altean tools just couldn't do what I needed them to some times. Next I pulled out the project that I had been keeping oh so secret from everyone. 

A guitar. 

I had started working on it about a month after we were all launched in to this adventure. We had stopped on a planet to negotiate an alliance. It was only a meeting between leaders so the rest of us were free to do as we pleased. I decided to explore the forest that surrounded the kingdom. I found a fallen tree that still seemed really sturdy. The size of the log was a lot smaller than the trees around it and it looked like it had been chewed on. I had taken my knife out and started peeling the bark off, then took it back to the ship in case I decided to make something out of it. 

After about 6 months the thing was almost a functioning guitar. I still had to add the strings, luckily there was some stuff very similar to guitar string on the castle in one of the workshops. I set everything on my desk before heading out again to grab what I needed to finish. I grabbed a little more materials than I actually needed in case I messed up. I had never made a guitar on my own before but I did help one of my uncle's a few times. When I got back to my room I grabbed my phone and headphones, I had them on me as well as a few other things when this all started, and played music while I worked. I opened one of the drawers in the desk and placed the extra materials in there. 

Then I opened another drawer, this one held several sealed containers. I took out 3 of the containers, one a rectangular shape and the others cylinders. The rectangular one held dozens of brushes of different types and sizes and the cylinders held paint. I also grabbed one of the pencils on my desk. I started drawing lightly so that I wouldn't show later. I drew for a couple hours before I decided to paint what I could now and draw the rest afterwards, I had drawn several roses with thorny stems. 

It took another couple hours to paint all of the roses and when I was done my back and neck were sore from looking down for so long. I washed the brushes and put them away as well as the containers of paint. I moved the guitar to the chair that was in my room so that I could clean m desk that got some paint on it. Afterwards I placed the guitar back on the desk to finish drying. With nothing really needing to get done I decided to do some excersises so that I might get tired enough to get even a little bit of sleep later. For the next 3 hours or so I did stretches and any excersises I could think of that didn't need equipment. While I was taking a small break to drink some water I heard footsteps nearing my room. 

"Hey, Lance," Hunk started, "Dinner will be done soon." Again he didn't wait for a response and I head his footsteps getting farther away. I did some stretches to wind down before taking a shower. When I got out I had to put on makeup to cover my scars and tattoos again. Once I was sure that nothing was visible I left my room and started making my way to the dining room. 

"Hey," I started as I made my way to my seat, "did you guys have fun?" Pidge and Hunk nodded excitedly, big smiles on their faces, and food in their mouths. I turned to Keith to see his response he only gave a small nod but he had a genuine smile. We ate dinner with plenty of conversation around the table. Pidge, Hunk and Keith describing some of the things they saw while flying around. Coran telling stories of things he was reminded of. Allura and I mostly stayed quiet, enjoying the others' happiness. 

We continued talking and messing around for a while after everyone was done eating. Everyone seemed pretty tired so I wasn't too worried about Keith holing up in the training deck, or Hunk staying in the kitchen all night or anything and eventually, everyone went back to their rooms for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending probably could have been better but I think it'll do. Sorry again for the wait. Feedback is appreciated and feel free to ask questions if something confuses you. I've been told that I can get kinda cryptic and stuff without realizing it. Though I won't answer questions about stuff that are intentionally left unexplained or that I plan on getting into later.


End file.
